Ferrari’s rising star Ollie Bearman after the Hungarian Grand Prix: “A nightmare”

For Ollie Bearman, the problems in Hungary began as early as qualifying on Saturday. The young Haas driver, who is part of the Ferrari family, failed to make it past Q1 and was therefore forced to start the final race before the summer break from 17th on the grid. Things didn’t go to plan in the race either, as Bearman fell victim to a system error affecting the blue flags.

The Briton blocked Isack Hadjar for too long, for which the stewards handed him a five-second time penalty. In the end, he finished last in 19th place, two laps behind winner Lando Norris. The 21-year-old was understandably frustrated after the chequered flag fell.

The Haas driver lamented: “That was certainly the worst weekend of the year. I feel terrible about the penalty I received for the blue flag incident with Hadjar. Because, to be honest, it was quite a nightmare out there. You’re basically driving through the infield, you don’t have time to look in the mirrors, and on practically every lap I did, I was shown blue flags.”

It’s not just blue flags causing frustration

“They weren’t working properly in this race. So it was hard to tell whether it was you, the car behind you, the car in front of you or someone else who was being shown the blue flag,” Bearman explained. “So it was definitely not done with any malicious intent. I’m a lap down. I’m not trying to do anything bad,” he insisted, before adding sheepishly: “But of course I’m sorry for anyone whose race I may have affected.”

The blue flags weren’t the only concern for the driver currently ranked thirteenth in the World Championship. Bearman explained: “I lacked confidence right from the first lap, and it really does seem as though all the progress we’ve made over the last two World Championship rounds has simply been wiped out and we’re back to square one. I don’t understand how I could have felt so competitive and confident in the car at Spa, and here it was simply a nightmare to drive. We think we understand it, but it’s now important that we analyse everything properly before we get back on track.”